


Fight Me

by 42hrb



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Feelings, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, It's always fluff with me, M/M, NHL Player William "Dex" Poindexter, Near Future, Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 06:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/42hrb/pseuds/42hrb
Summary: Nursey hadn’t realized it was a thing until it was too late. The thing in question was getting turned on when one William Poindexter dropped gloves and started swinging.





	Fight Me

**Author's Note:**

> I'm slowly but surely working my way through my WIPs folder... I really have no idea where this one came from but HERE IT IS!

So, the thing was, Nursey hadn’t realized it was a _thing_ until it was too late. The _thing_ in question was getting turned on when one William Poindexter dropped gloves and started swinging. How it had taken him so long to figure it out was a mystery to him. He’d seen Dex drop gloves twice at Samwell and he had watched a fair few of his NHL games (okay, fine, he watched all of them; Dex played really pretty hockey).  He had seen his fights in real time, but this was different.

Maybe it was because now Dex was here, in his tiny D.C. apartment with a black eye that was just starting to fade, looking end of season lean and reminding Derek of being 18. Or maybe it was because someone had complied all of Dex’s fights in a YouTube video and put ‘Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time’ by Panic! At the Disco in the background.

Or, more likely, maybe it was that Dex was pressed up against him on the small couch, smelling like soap and oranges, looking tired, but happy.

Whatever it was, it was _not_ good for several reasons; the biggest reason being Dex would probably freak out if he realized that Derek was half hard in his jeans next to him. Right below that on the list of reasons it was not good was that Chowder was sitting on the other side of him and it was just _awkward_.

“Can we _stop_ watching this,” Dex groaned. His ears were bright red and his face was in his hands, “I lived through them. I don’t need to watch it.”

“Yeah C, can’t you tell William here is uncomfortable?” Derek chirped, like it had been Chowder’s idea to watch the video, not his.

“Oh!! Oh, we should stop!”

Derek pulled Netflix up on the Fire Stick and put on Stranger Things. He could feel the tension drain from Dex’s shoulders, “Thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem, bro,” Nursey bumped his shoulder against Will’s, “Just like, you know Rans and Holster are going to make us watch it at the post-playoffs reunion weekend.”

“Don’t remind me,” Dex’s frown was almost comically large, “Maybe I won’t go.”

“What?! No! You _have to come_ ,” Chowder’s eyes did that thing where they looked like puppy eyes and Derek laughed, “Please, Dex.”

“Fine,” Dex signed, “Can we just watch Stranger Things, I don’t want to think about hockey for like 10 minutes.”

They fell into companionable quiet, all squashed together on the couch. It was nice, Derek hadn’t realized how much he missed it until he felt his heart unclench.

It had kind of sucked at first, watching Will and Chris sign contracted with different NHL teams. Not because Derek had wanted that too, but because he was watching them go off without him. Chris ended up with the Hurricanes, down with their AHL affiliate for most of the season and Will had signed with the Devils.

Dex started in the AHL, but a broken wrist for Greene in the first game and then a lower body injury to Moore the next week had gotten Dex the call up. In his first three games he had three assists and one five-minute major for fighting.

He quickly became a fan favorite and when the lower body injury to Moore ended up being an ACL tear, it gave Dex the chance to play most of a full season in the NHL.

The SMH group chat had blown up and Derek’s stomach had twisted with something like longing. It wasn’t longing for the game, he played twice a week on a beer league team in D.C. and he fucking loved his job as an assistant news editor at Vox. It was just that he missed this; he missed the chirping and brotherhood that came with a _team_.

But now that Will and Chris were here, on his couch, pressed against him like there was no such thing as personal space, Derek finally felt that longing leave him. He was selfishly a little happy that both of them hadn’t made the playoffs so that they could be here with him.

Three episodes later Chris was snoring softly and Dex looked like he wasn’t too far behind him. “Come on, bed.”

“We have to blow up the air mattress,” Will yawned, heaving himself to his feet.

“I have a queen bed, just crash with me tonight,” Derek spoke before he could stop himself, “It’s not like we haven’t shared before.”

Dex didn’t protest, which told Nursey exactly how tired he was. While Dex undressed, Derek adjusted Chris on the couch and covered him with a throw blanket. By the time he got to the bedroom Dex was already in bed. It sent a jolt of something through him to see Will in his bed, but Derek just pushed it down. He was used to repressing his feelings; what was one more at this point?

“’M glad you invited us.”

Derek held his breath for a moment, “I’m glad you didn’t forget all about me now that you’re a big NHL star.”

Dex huffed out a laugh, “I’m not a star.”

“You could win the Calder.”

“Ha fucking ha Nurse.”

“Dude, you had 51 points this season. You lead the Devil’s D core in assists _and_ goals. Your plus/minus was _plus 20_ on a non-playoff team. You could win the fucking Calder,” Nursey kind of wanted to grab Dex by the shoulders and shake him to remind him how good he was, but he settled for flicking his ear in the dark.

“I – yeah fine,” Dex signed, “I’m still probably going to get traded.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, Moore will be back and they won’t need me, but they do need a C2.”

“That’s some bullshit,” Nurse was annoyed for Dex.

“Dude, that’s hockey,” Dex sighed, “I’m not Jack Zimmermann; I’m replaceable.”

“Not to me,” Derek teased, “Who else would I annoy?”

“I’m sure you’d find someone,” Dex laughed, “You still like your job right? And D.C.?”

“Chyeah, it’s amazing.”

They fell asleep talking everything under the sun, except hockey. Derek had wanted to ask why Dex had gotten in so many fights this season, but he had fallen asleep before he could ask.

\--

The weekend of the Samwell Men’s Hockey reunion didn’t coincide with Jack’s day with the Cup. Derek thought that maybe Jack had planned it that way so he wasn’t rubbing it in Dex and Chowder’s faces because Jack was a good guy like that.

Unsurprising to anyone, Bitty and Jack used that weekend to announce their engagement. Honestly Nursey was kind of surprised it took them so long, but he was glad they were still so happy.

Jack had rented an absurdly large lake house in upstate New York, big enough that they all had their own rooms; well, except Nurse and Dex and Ransom and Holster. He was pretty sure that had been Ransom and Holster playing matchmaker.

“Are you excited to play for the Caps?” Jack asked Dex while a few of them sat on the dock with fishing rods and a cooler full of beer.

“Yeah, they’re a great team,” Dex actually did sound excited, “Ovi called me after the trade to welcome me to the team too, which was fucking awesome. And it’ll be nice to know someone in the city besides the guys on the team.”

“Gonna live with Nursey, eh?” Jack grinned, bumping his shoulder against Derek’s.

“You totally can bro.”

“You live in a one bedroom apartment,” Dex laughed, adjusting his fishing rod and leaning back, “I don’t think there’s enough room for both of us.”

“Bro, there _totally_ is,” Ransom piped up, “two words. Bunk. Beds.”

“I think they’re a little old for bunk beds.” Holster winked, “Two grown ass adult men should be able to share a bed without it being weird.”

“I mean they’re going to have to this weekend anyways,” Ransom grinned, wide and bright, “It can be a practice round for the season.”

Derek knew better than to engage Ransom or Holster on the topic of sharing a bed with your bro, they had _very_ strong opinions on it; mostly involving platonic cuddling and how it enhanced your friendships.

Dex was biting his lip next to him, so Derek bumped his shoulder against Will’s. Dex gave him a soft smile before turning back to the lake. There was tug on his line and they all turned their attention to that instead of the sleeping situation.

Only Dex and Jack caught anything and nothing was big enough to keep, but Bitty had burgers and hot dogs, and pie for everyone. The first night they roasted marshmallows and drank until Derek was falling asleep on the blanket between Chris and Will.

“C'mon, let’s go to bed,” Dex offered him a hand and pulled him up.

They tumbled into their shared room, barely managing to get out of their jeans before Derek was asleep. He woke up tucked under Dex’s chin with an arm slung around his middle. He also woke up pretty fucking hung over.

“Water,” Dex muttered, rolling so he wasn’t cuddling Derek anymore. He grabbed a cup from the nightstand and drank half of it before handing the rest to Derek, along with a couple advil.

“Sleep,” Derek tucked himself back under Dex’s chin so he could feel Dex’s huff, but he fell back to sleep with Dex tracing patterns onto is back so he figured it was a win.

The second time Nursey woke up he was alone and much less hungover (thank you advil). He rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts before making his way downstairs. The sky was a stormy gray, which didn’t bode well for their plans for hiking, but did bode well for Bitty’s plans to not hike and get day drunk while watching reality TV.

“Wait,” Shitty grabbed the remote and flipped over to the YouTube app on the smart TV, “We have to watch Jack’s big fight!”

“Then we have to watch all of Dex’s!” Holster slapped Dex on the back, “You were _sick_ this season bro, like, unbelievable.”

“We all knew you were good brah,” Ransom kicked his feet into Lardo’s lap, “but I didn’t realize how quickly our little frog had grown up until you dropped gloves and fucking danced with Wilson.”

“That one was actually pretty fun,” Dex cracked a smile, “mostly just to get the boys going after a tough loss the night before.”

“Were the others… not fun?” Shitty was already queuing up a playlist someone had compiled of all of Dex’s fights. At least this time they wouldn’t be set to a Panic! At the Disco song.

Dex shrugged, “They were necessary.”

“Are we gonna watch or what?” Lardo walked into the living room with a bag of chips and planted herself on Holster’s lap.

Shitty played the first video. Now that there wasn’t music behind the fights, they could hear the announcers and Derek cringed.

“It looks like Poindexter’s going to get an early start in his career when it comes to collecting penalty minutes,” the announcer said with a laugh, he sounded happy about it, “The gloves are off and Brinkofski has a good grip on Poindexter’s sweater, but Poindexter’s quick and wow, he’s got a great left hook.”

“Oh yeah Dexy,” Holster teased, “I think that you just made your play-by-play guy jizz in his pants.”

“Fuck off,” Dex muttered, but he was smiling.

After the night that Nursey, Dex, and Chowder had watched the compilation of Dex’s fights and Nursey had learned so many things about himself, he had tried to desensitize himself to how hot Dex looked when he fought. It… hasn't really worked. A fact that was becoming increasingly apparent as the playlist moved from fight to fight.

“Dude, you seriously held your own with Wilson,” Ransom leaned across Derek to slap Dex on the shoulder, pressing Derek even closer to Dex, “I’m kind of disappointed we won’t be able to see that next season.”

Dex laughed, soft and happy, “I’m not. Maybe Wilson will do all the fighting and I can just play hockey.”

“Play the next one,” Lardo grinned at Derek as she said it, like she knew what this was doing to him. She probably did, she had gotten him _very_ drunk at Jack’s post Cup party and Derek was a chatty drunk.

The next fight was a particularly good one, at least in Nursey’s opinion. He remembered the game. It had been pretty chippy and midway through the third, when Dex had dropped gloves, Burrows had almost thrown Hall into the bench.

Dex had clearly won the fight and had even avoided Burrows’ right hook with a smooth duck. It was _hot_. It was even hotter when Dex took a fist to the jaw, spit some blood onto the ice, and kept going.

“Oh fuck,” Nursey breathed out, “I can’t watch this anymore.”

Shitty, Ransom, Holster, Lardo, Bitty, and even _Jack_ gave him knowing looks, but Chowder, sweet sweet Chow, gave him the softest, saddest look that Derek had ever seen. Dex just blushed, eyes forward, as Nursey pushed off the couch and walked out of the room.

He heard Chris say, “Guys, he doesn’t like seeing Dex getting hurt, turn it off so he’ll come back.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it is sweetie,” Nursey could practically see Bitty patting Chowder on the arm fondly.

Once he was far enough away from the living room that he couldn’t hear the TV anymore, Derek stopped and took a deep breath. This was fine, sure everyone knew he was super into Dex throwing down on the ice, but he could live with that as long as it didn’t make Dex feel weird.

For a second Derek considered getting another beer from the kitchen, but decided that maybe some fresh air would be better. He stepped onto the deck and leaned against the house; it had finally stopped raining and the air hung heavy around him.

The door opened and Dex stepped outside, “Sorry they made us watch those.”

“No big, bro,” Derek lied, taking a long breath in and holding it for a second before blowing it out his nose, “Sorry they made you rewatch all of those. I know you don’t love watching yourself fight.”

Dex snorted, “I knew it was coming. I was just a little surprised when you didn’t want to watch.”

“I know you don’t like to watch, so,” Derek tried, but Dex gave him a look that clearly called bullshit, “I don’t know dude, I just didn’t want to watch with everyone.”

“You wanted to watch when I was in town last month,” Dex reminded him, bumping his shoulder against Nursey’s, “I get it though, fighting isn’t really cool.”

“Dude, it’s definitely not that,” Derek laughed almost hysterically, running a hand through his hair.

“Then, what?”

“Fuck,” he shut his eyes and went for it, “Dude, when you fight it’s fucking _hot_ , and I know that’s fucked up, but like, bro, have you seen yourself? You’re hot as it is and you play _pretty_ hockey. I just - I can’t watch you fight in front of people because it just makes you hotter.”

“Oh.”

Derek waited for Dex to say more and when he didn’t Derek’s stomach dropped, “I’m dealing with it, it’s chill. I just, I couldn’t keep watching.”

Dex was still quiet, his eyes were wide, but other than that his expression was unreadable. Derek took that to mean he should leave, so he stepped around Dex trying to get back inside and wallow in his feelings.

“Wait,” Dex grabbed his arm, “I -”

The only light came from the kitchen window, casting a shadow over Dex’s face so Derek couldn’t see his expression. Dex took a tentative step toward Nursey, his grip on his arm not so tight that Derek couldn’t move, but he didn’t really want to move.

“You think I’m hot?”

“I said I did,” Nursey huffed, “I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.”

“You think that… makes me uncomfortable?” Dex shifted a little and Derek could see that he was smiling, “Nursey. _Derek_. Aren’t you supposed to be the one of us who understands people? Who can read people?”

“I - apparently not,” Derek was smiling too, because Dex was closer now, their chests almost touching, “I think I’m figuring it out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Nursey put a hand on Dex’s neck, pulling him closer. Dex came willingly, his breath ghosting over Derek’s face before their lips met in a tentative kiss.

As far as first kisses go, it was pretty average. It wasn’t bad or anything, but Derek figured that after pining for so long it would be better. When he pulled back Dex was looking at him like he had the same feeling.

“Let’s try that again,” Dex laughed, shifting so he had Derek pinned against the house. This time when they kissed it was everything Nursey had expected. It was soft, but there was a fire in it that hadn’t been in the first kiss.

“Wow,” Derek leaned his forehead against Dex’s, “That was something.”

“Yeah,” Will kissed him again.

Derek wasn’t sure how long they made out on the porch, but he _was_ sure that he never wanted to stop. No one came out looking for them, which he took to mean they were good to keep going for a while. They didn’t stop until the rain started again, and even then it was hard to pull apart.

“Maybe we take this somewhere dryer,” Dex looked wrecked, his hair was a mess (Derek’s fault), his mouth was red and wet (also Derek’s fault), and he looked happy as fuck (definitely Derek’s fault).

“Like a bedroom?” Nursey grinned at the eyeroll that got him, “Oh come on, you were thinking it.”

“Yeah, whatever Nurse.”

They snuck into the house, Derek could hear the sounds of what was probably a really epic game of Cards Against Humanity. “Shhh,” Nursey _giggled_ as the tumbled into their bedroom, “We’ve gotta be quiet.”

“Or what? You’ll fight me?”

“Maybe,” Derek could feel himself blush, “Or maybe I’ll just find a way to make you be quiet.”

“That was terrible,” Dex burst out laughing and Nursey pushed him, gently, onto the bed, “Wow, seriously, has that line ever worked for you before?”

“I hate you.”

“Liar,” Dex grinned, grabbing Derek by the belt loops and pulling him closer, “You’re super into me.”

“Yeah,” Derek admitted with a grin, “I kind of am.”

The next morning when they went down to breakfast they found a pair of boxing gloves hung on their doorknob.

“Sorry, we couldn’t find a sock,” Lardo smirked, but Derek just smiled as he started piling pancakes onto his plate. He felt like he’d won this round anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com)


End file.
